Never settle for a small one, and demand a corner piece with a flower.

Guest Post: Christy Casimiro from A Lil’ Welsh Rarebit

Today’s Summer Hiatus guest post comes from one of my dear IRL friends (Mom – IRL means “in real life”). We met years ago when we worked for the same organization and I have seen her many highs and lows. And let me tell you, those highs are HIGH! Because Christy fromA Lil’ Welsh Rarebit is quite possibly the most enthusiastic person I know.

Her laugh is always the loudest and longest, and the one that makes everyone else want to join in. My favorite thing about Christy is that she can make even the most mundane things seem more fun and interesting than you would have ever believed possible. And she somehow manages to do this in a very non-annoying and non-Spirit Bunny kind of way. I attribute this to her quirkiness and individuality. She’s an original – there’s no one else like her.

Except maybe her mom…so when the two of them are together – POW! A little over a year ago when she called to tell me that she was at her mom’s house and had just announced to the family that she was pregnant, my first thought was to wonder how they all survived the explosion that must have resulted. I could just hear the news report:

“Earlier this evening, a quiet suburban neighborhood outside of Washington, DC was hit by an unexplained explosion covering a two block radius. No terrorist activity is suspected as of yet, but rescue workers are racing time to find survivors and identify the source of this mysterious ‘event.’ When questioned about the explosion, local residents all report to have heard a ‘sonic boom,’ accompanied by a flash of light. Many claim to have heard shrieks of joy in the few minutes preceding the explosion. More at 11.”

I could write a whole post on Christy, but instead I’ll just let you read this crazy story.

Welcome Christy!

Pregnant Women Should Never Multitask ORDid Your Boss Ask You To Spanx Him?*Christy did not submit a title – so I took the liberty…

When Kate asked me to guest post, I thought about writing about the time she and I found our inebriated selves on a stage in New Orleans singing along with a Zydeco band in front of a few thousand of people…including our bosses…but then I decided that’s her story to tell. Instead, I thought I’d tell you about a most memorable day during my final month of work.

Before I became a SAHM mom last August, I was a proposal writer for a Big Four accounting firm. I worked for the partners of the firm – the guys on top who were trying to woo new business and retain current clients. The majority of my time was spent wordsmithing business documents, but as a member of the marketing team, I was occasionally asked to Be a Team Player! And Work Outside My Job Description! Oh, the joy.

So one random Thursday last summer, I was being a team player, and almost made such a grievous mistake that I thought I might pass out in my cube.

Anyone reading this who has been pregnant knows that it’s not just a myth that pregnant women have some memory problems. And some concentration problems. Or maybe it’s just me? I had both. And I had terribly swollen feet, which I was always complaining about… Consequently, I was not always focused on the exact task at hand.

I was in my third trimester, and one of the partners I worked for — I’ll call him Scott, because that was his name — asked me to order him a certain business book. Scott gave me his home address, and said to have the book delivered the next day, as he and his family were headed to the shore for the weekend and he been advised to read it before Monday…

So, I went to my cube and proceeded to search for this book. As I’m an excellent multi-tasker, my colleague Jill was in my cube chatting with me while I was taking care of this request. Since I’m an amazon.com prime member, that was my obvious first stop. Ta-da, they had the book. Add to cart. We were busy discussing our upcoming weekend plans and I was hardly paying attention to what was on my screen…

Since I’m a prime member/frequent shopper, (and I used to shop online from work all the time- come on – you know you do it too!) my payment information was pre-populated on the screen – all I had to do was add Scott’s name and shipping address to the order.

Ship to: Scott’s home address.

Charge: My credit card. (I’d submit for reimbursement, of course)

Submit order:

WAIT! Screams Jill. Literally. Screams.

What? I say.

LOOK WHAT ELSE IS IN YOUR CART! says Jill.

OhMyGod.

SPANX: Power Mama® Power Panties

AND……

Prenatal Belly-Dancing DVD

I had totally forgotten that I hadn’t yet purchased those saved items in my cart!

I began sweating profusely and thought I was going to pass out. I felt like I was blushing furiously, but Jill said I went pale as a ghost.

Oh my god Kate that was such a lovely introduction! You are a sweetheart and I miss you so much. I hope to get back to DC sometime this spring to come see you and the family in person. Thanks so much for asking me to guest post – I had so much remember this incident…and the one in New Orleans!

I think the real question here is, did you end up ordering the belly dancing DVD and was it any good? I ordered Jillian Michaels 30 day shred and it still sits on my kitchen table. I DID unwrap the cello though…

haha! I love your stories, Christy. Congrats on being a guest post here at Kate’s place. You two are so lucky to have such a strong friendship! Thanks for the good laughs. I like Gwem’s question, too…. :)Katie

Christy,Ican’t stop laughing. Tears are running down my face. When I got to the photos, I almost collapsed from laughter. Made me almost wish he had gotten the items just to hear about the reaction – or maybe he didn’t have a sense of humour. Anyway, thanks for the laughter. I’m still giggling everytime I see those pictures in my mind’s eye.And thank you Kate for your translation. I needed it!

I hate to admit it but I was prone to those kinds of mistakes when I worked in an office LONG before I was pregnant (though I agree that being preggo makes it worse–my mother had 8 kids and 8 miscarriages and it is all permament with her, I fear).

Oh gawd, that is gooooood! You know how amazon makes recommendations that sometimes can be a little sketch-ay? So it could have been worse, you could have ended up with some sort of tantic sex tape in your shopping cart. Or :shudder: some sort of personal pleasure product… Not that I would know anything about either, of course! ;)Great quest post!

What is it with pregnancy brain? I used to give all my girlfriends who were pregnant before me a hard time, until I finally figured it out for myself when I was pregnant. And yes, I agree with some others…it doesn’t seem to go away completely after the baby is born.

This is too funny! I can hear you retelling this in a speedy, quiet tone that makes my heart beat fast because WHAT IF you had not caught it earlier?!? I am a dropsy, clumsy, forgetful, anti-multitasker when pregnant!

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Kate Coveny Hood

Hi! I'm Kate, a mother of three who wages a daily battle against wrinkles, dust, a lack of personal time and the constant arrows that having a special needs child shoots directly into one’s heart. I first hit publish on The Big Piece of Cake in 2008 when I planned to write "a humor blog." Since then I've lost any semblance of focus. Sometimes I say interesting things...and sometimes I just say things. Visit me here for varying levels of insight and over sharing.